Rhonda Lawson

Name: Rhonda Lawson

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Grade: 12th

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Basketball, reality TV, high fashion and cosmetology, history, hunting

Appearance: At 6’3” and 190 pounds, Rhonda’s build is lean and lanky. Her impressive stature, along with her long limbs and lean muscles, both aids her greatly in basketball and makes her conspicuous in a crowd. Rhonda’s calves and thighs are particularly distinct for their observable musculature. Rhonda’s medium-dark brown skin has warm, golden undertones, and despite a slight brushing of freckles across the bridge of her nose she rarely experiences unsightly blemishes thanks to good hygiene. Rhonda’s dark brown hair naturally forms tight and wavy ringlets, but she has been braiding it since her adolescence. Since beginning high school, Rhonda has styled it into cornrows, flipped to the right of her face, ending in medium-length dreadlocks at the back, which end about one inch above her shoulders.

Rhonda’s facial features are attractive though not striking. Her round face carries full lips with a wide mouth, and her dark brown eyes are upturned and close-set. She dislikes her eyebrows, which are thick and uneven, so she trims them as well as using mascara. Rhonda’s other characteristics include full cheeks, small and flat ears, a straight and upturned nose, and a pronounced chin. Her breasts are small but proportional given her athletic lifestyle.

Rhonda puts a lot of effort into maintaining her physical appearance. Since she is an active person who sweats a lot while exerting, Rhonda pays special attention to keeping her skin from becoming dry or oily. She is also self-conscious about risk of body odor, which manifests as a rigorous hygiene regime and a regular use of antiperspirants and/or perfume, usually in vanilla or citrus scents. When she’s not planning on partaking in physical activity, Rhonda’s usually seen with dark eyeliner and dark red lip gloss and mascara. Rhonda does not wear jewelry, and though her ears were pierced at a young age she has allowed them to close by not wearing earrings in several years. Rhonda meticulously trims her nails, and they are currently painted a rose pink.

Being knowledgeable about styles and trends, Rhonda’s fashion choices are intended to give her a clean-cut but casual image. Though she occasionally dresses in casual outfits like jean shorts with a tank top, there have been very few occasions where she has attended school or public events in such attire. More often, Rhonda mostly wears simple monochromatic blouses and tees, usually in warm colors like dark red or orange. She prefers mostly straight-legged pants, but also wears knee-length skirts in dark colors in warmer weather. For footwear, she usually wears brown Venetian loafers. She likes the style of headscarves but wears them very infrequently and only in private settings with her friends or other people she is comfortable with for fear of drawing attention.

Biography: Jedediah and Melinda Jackson, Rhonda’s parents, were high school sweethearts, marrying within a few months of graduating high school, with her mother Melinda already pregnant. Shortly after, Jedediah quickly got a job as a big-rig driver, which while lucrative enough to support the family well also caused Melinda to spend much of her pregnancy without his presence. Though Jedediah and Melinda remained in contact electronically, his own independent nature meant he had trouble understanding how she felt without his presence. To make matters worse, while she was still in touch with many of her school friends, her young pregnancy ended a number of her former relationships and also damaged her relationship with her parents.

Being extremely lonely and feeling abandoned only amplified Melinda’s nervous personality, within a few months of Rhonda’s birth Melinda entered an affair with Vance Lawson, an older man who she discretely met through an online dating service. Vance was a chiropractor and had been married once before, but his comfortable charm and supportiveness drew Melinda in. By the time Rhonda was two years old, Jedediah had begun to suspect something was amiss, as Melinda’s interactions with him grew increasingly brief while he was home, and he received fewer and fewer calls and messages during his work periods. On Rhonda’s third birthday, Jedediah returned to Chattanooga early, and unfortunately discovered that Vance had visited so he could meet Rhonda. An immediate and explosive conflict broke out, and shortly after the two initiated a divorce, both distraught and furious over the incident.

As with many custody battles, the divorce process and the following legal proceedings were tense and volatile. Because of Jedediah’s work and the resulting long periods traveling, Melinda received full custody of Rhonda, and Jedediah was required to contribute child support. While he did fulfill this obligation, his resent at the whole situation meant he never returned to Chattanooga, so aside from periodic phone calls his future interactions with his daughter were minimal. Because Rhonda was too young to ever really interact with him until well after the split, most of her conversations are brief and awkward, feeling she is just talking to a stranger.

One positive result of the entire ordeal was that, despite his inappropriate entry into the relationship, Vance was otherwise a good influence on Rhonda’s upbringing. He married Melinda two months after the divorce finalized, which was essentially the final act that resulted in her being rejected from the rest of her family, but while this was upsetting for a time to Melinda, she ultimately moved on. Being only about three years old, Rhonda was hesitant to accept the sudden and sharp increase in Vance’s presence in her home, but his soft-spoken friendliness compared to her mother’s relatively high-strung nature was able to make her feel comfortable quickly.

Still, Rhonda was a reticent child upon entering early school, being shy around her more active classmates and nervous to speak up to her teachers. Though Vance was a calming influence, Melinda’s stress from the divorce and lifestyle changes had given her a neurotic and anxious demeanor, and she was quick to react explosively to comparatively small problems, which made Rhonda feel nervous about causing issues or attracting her mother’s attention. This manifested in school as a quiet girl who was attached to her friends but reluctant to speak to new people and became quiet in groups. She luckily avoided getting picked on, and though her teachers spoke to her to ensure she was doing well, she remained timid at school.

Gym class and recess were the most enjoyable outlets for her; because she had a lot of energy and was eager to keep up with her peers, Rhonda found that she enjoyed physical activity a lot, and it became a method of bonding for her. It didn’t take long for her to become a real enthusiast, and quickly found her niche in basketball. She was agile and had a lot of natural talent, and the feeling of being successful and having her classmates encouraging her was a powerful motivator. She began playing in pickup games in her neighborhood and remained invested in the sport into her senior year.

Watching basketball on television was also a mutual activity between Rhonda and Vance. He already enjoyed watching sports and was happy to have a companion, since Melinda wasn’t interested in them. Soon much of Rhonda’s time was spent either playing or watching the sport. When she couldn’t do these things, however, she got bored and restless, and Melinda saw this as an opportunity to rekindle the relationship with her daughter. Melinda was a fan of reality TV and soap operas and pushed Rhonda to watch them with her when she was bored. Though Rhonda was hesitant at first, she grew accustomed to the soap operas favored by her mother, who took the melodramatic tones more seriously. From around the time Rhonda was 7 years old, the two would spend time together watching shows; Rhonda favored shows with more focus on the people as competitors, especially cooking shows and others that featured craftspeople. Later on, this grew to include Face Off, America’s Next Top Model, Project Runway, and similar shows, with varying degrees of investment depending on how others seemed to view the show.

Though her quiet attitude persisted through elementary school, Rhonda had a stable social life, with a few friends who she felt comfortable around. However, the transition to middle school was stressful for her, as many of her classmates became more intimidating to her. Rhonda became increasingly self-conscious and insecure, especially because her participation in basketball gave her a muscular physique and puberty made her much taller than her peers even then. This attracted some sexuality-based mockery from other students, driving Rhonda to become more and more quiet and inconspicuous despite her striking appearance.

However, middle school did give Rhonda renewed enthusiasm in her sport of choice; she was able to join the varsity team in seventh grade and continued to excel from then on. On the court, she was able to focus on the play and felt more confident. With good natural reflexes and agility, Rhonda’s near-constant play gave her considerable prowess. She also felt more sociable with her teammates, whose cooperative rapport encouraged her and gave her more confidence in their presence, allowing her to be more outgoing, energetic and enthusiastic.

Still, struggling with social anxiety drew Rhonda to another, more surprising passion; fashion and cosmetics. Vance had no experience with makeup and while Melinda was more easygoing than in the past, she had started attending university shortly after Rhonda entered sixth grade and was somewhat distant and distracted during this time. This left Rhonda to find other resources for the activity and being shy meant she decided it would be easier to study it online than in person. She focused on simple things at first, practicing only on weekends when she didn’t need to leave the house if it went awry, and quickly found herself gaining aptitude. She also studied fashion at this time, helping to identify a comfortable style for herself and avoid standing out as garish.

Though she initially started out of pragmatism, Rhonda found herself becoming passionate about them in a more personal way. She likened physical beautification to an art form and found that as a medium it had an inherently active style due to the movement of a person, which she preferred to a still painting or drawing. Rhonda began to follow high runway fashion and modeling, wanting to see the various styles and trends. She doesn’t follow particular designers much, mostly appreciating the dresses and outfits as visual arts. With makeup, she found a lot of interesting information about makeup artistry in films, especially those where she could do more elaborate and striking applications, such as monster prosthetics and the like. She followed styles and methods there as well as becoming a dedicated fan of Face Off and many online practitioners. She doesn’t get much of a chance to apply these personally but is eager to do so and has grown considerably in skill.

Some of her research in learning about fashion brought historical fashions to Rhonda’s attention. The means and methods of certain styles and cultural trends was relatable to her, and through this connection she became a casual history student. She read books on historical events and people, with a special interest in non-European culture since she saw much of that in school already. She also followed many documentaries and historical films, though she favored the former. Relating to people from a long time ago was something Rhonda liked because she could pick out and envision their lives and experiences, which she thought was interesting and emotionally meaningful.

Rhonda’s high school experience has been an improvement on her earlier years, but she is still hindered by some social anxiety. Though not overt enough to attract teachers’ notice, who would only exacerbate it if they did speak to her, Rhonda is quiet and introverted and very self-conscious, and is usually alert for anything that might draw negative attention to herself. Though she’s not antisocial and can hold pleasant conversations, she much prefers to stick with her small circle of friends, which consists mostly of the other girls’ basketball members. A core member of the varsity team, Rhonda is often a starter and fills the shooting guard position, and while she isn’t the star player by any means she holds her own as a core member of the team.

Academically, Rhonda fairs well. She is an unremarkable student with a good GPA but isn’t a standout and has fluctuations in most of her classes, sometimes dropping sharply if a project or test doesn’t go well for her. History and social studies classes are the exception because her personal interest in the subjects gives her investment and knowledge to keep up and perform well. Rhonda’s confidence levels fluctuate a lot, and when she is in a state of self-doubting she struggles to keep up with her normal performances. Rhonda is flustered easily in conflict and will avoid situations she thinks have any chance of becoming hostile. Even with her friends, Rhonda will usually let someone else take the lead and doesn’t like to disagree or argue. With unfamiliar people, Rhonda is quiet and taciturn, which sometimes comes off as aloof as she suppresses herself to avoid being seen as acting out. When she’s comfortable, Rhonda is much more outgoing and energetic, as well as engaging in spontaneous physical affection with the ones she knows are comfortable with it.

One of Rhonda’s current major concerns is her sexuality and presentation. Though she identifies herself as straight and is mostly comfortable with her own gender, she fears her athletic hobbies, avoidance of feminine hairstyles and dress, and close, often physical proximity to other girls gives people the impression she is a lesbian. Though she personally is supportive of others’ sexuality, she worries that she will attract homophobic behavior, which makes her anxious about behaving as she naturally does. She is trying to overcome this worry and recognizes it as excessive even given her other concerns, but it has been difficult to relax enough to do so.

This has only become more distressing as Rhonda’s anxieties have grown. The fear of how others view her borders on a social phobia; she experiences serios anxiety when she thinks people might be judging her or will reject her. This fear causes her to avoid some social outings. Rhonda is aware that she is not reacting rationally, and suspects she has social anxiety disorder, or some other issue that causes her to feel this way. However, Rhonda fears that bringing this up to someone will cause them to deny it and further shame her, so she hasn’t talked about it with anyone.

Despite her volatile environment as an infant, Rhonda’s home life is currently in a good state, though not especially intimate. Melinda has a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and offers her services online, so she is home most of the time. Having mellowed out considerably now that she is in her early 40s, she is close with Rhonda but the two are sometimes awkward and Melinda’s energy does not always complement Rhonda’s quietude. Rhonda has mixed feelings with Vance, since while he is a good-natured and relaxed man, he is also the reason her father left. He is her main paternal figure and she doesn’t dislike him, but the knowledge of his initial involvement with Melinda has created a barrier between them.

Vance, for his part, wants to be supportive of Rhonda, who he does view as his daughter. As an effort to grow closer, he began taking her on hunting trips as of the previous year. Initially unsure, Rhonda found the sport enjoyable for its long, quiet periods of interspersed with violent activity. Mostly hunting big game, Rhonda has used both hunting rifles and shotguns for this, but while she learned the principles quickly, she is bad at making the decisive shot, and the action of shooting is cumbersome to her, so she has terrible aim. She enjoys Vance’s company, and they have become closer, but there is still distance between them.

Rhonda hopes to get some kind of scholarship for her basketball participation, and prospects are high for her. She hopes to study history or anthropology but hasn’t decided what school she will attend. She doesn’t have any special attachment to Chattanooga but worries that an unfamiliar city will make the transition harder for her. She secretly hopes that she could attend the same school as one of her teammates and ideally room together, but she doesn’t want to impose this on anyone and has not mentioned it.

Advantages: Rhonda’s athletic interests and sports participation have given her a great deal of athletic skill, with particular emphasis on agility, stamina and reflexes. She is conflict-averse and skittish at times, which hasten her escape if she senses danger. Rhonda has hunting experience and knows how to use the types of shotguns or rifles used in that sport.

Disadvantages: Rhonda’s suffers from social anxiety disorder, and fear of being rejected by her peers or family will weigh heavily on her actions. Furthermore, she will be aware that many people will be viewing her through the cameras, and this will take a toll on her mental acuity. Though Rhonda has several close friends, she is shy and insecure around strangers. Rhonda is a follower and dislikes conflict, so she will be easy to push around.

Designated Number: Female Student No. 33

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Designated Weapon: Iron Fan

Conclusion: That's a pretty elegant weapon for such an awkward girl. Not the kind of thing that works in skittish hands, unfortunately. She might last a while with support from others, but I see her out before the halfway point. - Christina Stockton

'The above biography is as written by Espional. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Espional

Kills: None

Killed By: Quinn Abert

Collected Weapons: Iron Fan (assigned weapon)

Allies: Dolores Upton, Emeka Gibson, Ariana Moretti, Marceline Carlson

Enemies: Quinn Abert

Mid-game Evaluation: 

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes:

Other/Trivia

 * On the island, Rhonda is wearing a long-sleeved, dark orange blouse and tan straight-legged crop pants. She has dark brown eyeshadow and dark red-orange lip gloss.

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Rhonda, in chronological order.

V7 Pregame: V7:
 * Slammin' Jammin' Sam
 * Dreaming of Futures Ahead
 * And I saw, from eyes that were not mine. And I felt, with a fear I could not reason.
 * Two Hearts
 * "...we must try until it kills us."

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Rhonda Lawson. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Rhonda's an interesting case for me, because while she's not bad in any way, she falls much more into the support character slot than Espi's other V7 kids, and at the same time has something of a more restrained narrative. I think one thing that was a bit of a struggle for her was that her biggest Pregame interactions were with twocharacters who didn't actually end up in the game, plus another she never met up with, so while Rhonda got some very nice character work there (I'm especially partial to the ill-fated attempt to reassure Aleks about her college prospects) there wasn't a particularly clean opening to pivot from that into an island arc.

This is to a degree compounded by the fact that her opening in-game saw her stuck in a crammed string of threads with a bunch of characters who didn't have a ton in common, and whose primary goal (tracking down Dolly's girlfriend) was quickly accomplished. This left Rhonda and Meka a bit of a pair of third wheels, and then Rhonda got Heroed out. But, while I've maybe come off as a bit ambivalent so far, I think that the specifics of Rhonda's death are actually really neat and do a good job pushing and complicating Quinn's mentality.

Quinn and Rhonda are teammates, and Quinn, while she doesn't care about Rhonda per se, also has this feeling that killing her is different somehow and crosses some line, and thus would prefer to avoid doing so. The two are at odds in their desires; Quinn wants Rhonda to leave her alone, and Rhonda wants to understand what's happened to her teammate and why she's done what she has. Push comes to shove, and Quinn realizes that getting what she wants most will be easiest of she puts a permanent end to the interruption. It's dark and grim, and Rhonda dies doubting and chastising herself, and it's an ending that echoes her doubts and mentality back in Pregame very nicely.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that Rhonda's strong points are in her characterization and her beats with her team. Any time that's allowed to be at the forefront, she's quite successful. She struggles somewhat when she doesn't have a clear connection and is paired with louder, more assertive characters chasing other ends, because her restrained nature leaves her susceptible to getting drowned out. Her story's not very long, though, and she goes out on a high note, so while I'd probably favor Espi's other characters over her, she's not half bad and is worth a look. - MurderWeasel